The Cocktail That's Popular On NYC Beaches

The "C" in NYC could just as well spell "cocktail" as it does "city." The Big Apple is well-known for its distinct alcoholic beverages. The Manhattan quite literally shares its name with the city's most illustrious borough — where the women of "Sex and the City" made cosmopolitans almost as famous as its sky-high landmarks. But New York's signature cocktails are just about glitz and glamor. Over at urban beaches like Brooklyn's Coney Island and Rockaway in Queens, one beverage instantly evokes summer: the nutcracker.

A nutcracker combines headily strong liquors — vodka, tequila, rum, or cognac – with sweet mixers like Kool-Aid, fruit juice, and at times actual candy. It's the sort of head-rush-prone mix of booze and sugar that appeals to a sunny day at the beach. Despite their high alcohol content, nutcarackers look more like something that would appeal to a kid than the adults they're designed for. They're often served in clear plastic bottles that show off their bright, almost fluorescent color, and consumed like slushies or similarly colorful frozen summer cocktails.

Unlike other well-established cocktails with set recipes, the nutcracker doesn't follow a single formula. It comes in different colors and flavors and is certainly rough around the edges compared to the well-manicured highballs at a swanky 42nd Street bar. This is the drink of afternoon boardwalk strolls by the Coney Island surf. Since sellers don't provide the specific ingredient content, be careful with how much you consume, as each of the brightly-hued bottles can sneak in an alarming amount of alcohol.

The nutcracker's history begins in the early 1990s, specifically at Flor de Mayo, an Upper West Side eatery serving a fusion of Peruvian and Chinese food (part of Peru's distinctive culinary tradition, known as chifa). José Chu, the manager, and a customer named "Juice" are credited with the creation of the cocktail, whose original version was a fruity blend of Southern Comfort, Bacardi 151 rum, amaretto, Rose's Sour Lime, and pineapple juice. Its name has an unusual backstory for a summertime beverage: It's a reference to the famous Christmastime ballet by Tchaikovsky. Chu coined the name after seeing a commercial for the New York City Ballet — before then, it was called the "juice special."

Over time, the cocktail spread throughout Northern Manhattan and the rest of New York City, as it was easy for bars, bodegas, barbershops, and other vendors to replicate or add their own twist. Early adopters in Washington Heights and Harlem became famous for selling nutcrackers at parades and summertime get-togethers. At public beaches, vendors carry them in coolers and sell them for $10 cash. The drink's simplicity makes it easy to recreate at home. For a makeshift nutcracker, combine your spirits of choice with a fruit-based juice (consider using a sweet rum punch recipe as a guide). Since the drink is associated with unauthorized sales and drinking on many public beaches is banned, you may want to reserve your homemade nutcrackers for a private backyard party.